


21st Century Boy

by saint_troll



Series: Jack/Anything that moves... [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Stargate Universe, Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-02
Updated: 2013-03-02
Packaged: 2017-12-04 01:32:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/704943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saint_troll/pseuds/saint_troll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What would happen if Destiny had crash landed after it made it through the void?  What if it just happened to crash onto the Boeshane Peninsula?</p>
            </blockquote>





	21st Century Boy

Eli blinked and rubbed the palms of his hands into his eyes. They felt sluggish. Which was an entirely weird feeling on its own; eyes feeling lethargic, really? But lifting his arms, that was so much worse. He felt as if he’d either been hit by a moving vehicle or hadn’t moved in a very, very long time. As his thoughts gathered into something he could actually understand through his sleep-induced haze, it occurred to him that the latter was probably correct. He lurched forward to check on the rest of the crew.

A firm and practiced hand pressed against his chest stopped him rather quickly. That wasn’t right. Him and Rush were supposed to be the first ones woke then Young then the military and the remaining civilian population. Assuming the owner of the hand was even military, Eli’s head felt so clouded.

“...breathe. Just breathe.”

Eli tried to take a deep breathe only to have dizziness overcome him. Without opening his eyes, he mumbled. “The air purifiers? Are they functioning?”

“Don’t worry about that... can’t you stand?”

The voice was soothing. “Yeah... why wouldn’t I be able to...” He opened his eyes finally and was suddenly at loss for words. The ship looked awful. Had they crashed? Was everyone okay? “...did we crash?!”

The man grabbed his bicep and tried to urge him gently to stand. But Eli wasn’t having it. “Did. We. Crash? Iseveryoneokay?!”

“Look, I’ll answer your questions. All of them. Just, you have to stand up and come with me. This structure isn’t safe.”

What? What?! “...k..” Eli responded meekly and allowed the other man to guide him through the cargo bay, through what he was pretty sure formerly part of the hull and out into a sunny, sandy dune. Flinching hard, he stumbled. “... s’bright.”

“I know... just keep walking. Are you thirsty? Hungry?”

As if on cue, Eli’s stomach growled. He had the decency to blush. “Yeah, yeah... both.” Finally opening his eyes in the sunlight, he sought out the face of his... rescuer? Was that even the right term? He had not idea what was actually going on. The guy was tall and kinda jockish looking; if jocks dressed like Obi-wan. “Where am I?”

“Boeshane Peninsula...”

A loud explosive noise interrupted the conversation. And Eli found himself being rushed away from the ship at a pretty fast pace. He kept tripping over his own feet. More than usual. It felt like he hadn’t used them for... well, duh. He hadn’t. He’d just woken from cryosleep. Right? Then it dawned on him. The explosion had been the Destiny. Eli dug his feet in. “Wait... what about everyone else?”

“There is no one else. The other containers were empty. You were the only life sign that registered... hurry, we need to get out of the blast range!”

No one else. Oh, God. Oh, God! Eli swallowed and pushed it down. Matt had always told him that it helped in dangerous or unsettling situations. He’d never been able to really just shut something off like that before. Maybe it was because this was just so big. He didn’t think again until the other man stopped running and leaned over to catch his breathe.

“Who are you?” Eli asked not sure if he wanted to know the answer. He was thankful, at least, that the guy was humanoid and human looking. Not blue skinned and fish-like as it were.

“Jack... Jack Harkness.” He squinted up at Eli in the sunlight now shrouded by a thin veil of smoke. “...you?”

The name meant nothing to him. He didn’t recognize it. Not that he’d expected to. “Eli Wallace.”

Jack pointed at his clothes in a sweeping motion as he stood straighter now that he wasn’t as winded. “...from Earth?”

Eli nearly swallowed his tongue. If he’d been planning on playing it cool, that plan would have been blown to hell. Eyes bugged out, he stared speechless at the other man. They were unimaginably far away from Earth. How?

Seeming to catch onto his shock, Jack didn’t press for an answer when it was already so very apparent what it was.

Finally, Eli found his voice. “Are we, are we close to Earth? Is THIS earth?!” He pointed his fingers at the sand.

“I don’t know how to tell you this...”

“I’m on another planet in another galaxy... yeah, yeah. Moving on. Are we close to Earth?”

That at least drew a raised eyebrow out of Jack, Eli mused. There were so many questions. Where the hell was Boeshane Peninsula? Where was everyone else? Why had they left him?  
“... your container malfunctioned.”

“What...” Had... had Jack heard his thoughts.?!

“You were looking back at the ship, you asked about everyone else.. you obviously didn’t know you were the only one left. And, in your place, I’d be wondering why.” Jack paused before continuing. “I know what it’s like to wake up scared and alone...with everybody you ever knew gone.”

Eli didn’t need to have that proven. He could tell by the sound of the guy’s voice. “Malfunctioned?”

“Years ago... it’s taken me the better half of a year to get the hatch to release. And I only managed that by messing with the ship’s electrical systems. If you could even call them that. That’s not human design...”

The comment was left open ended, Eli could tell that much. How did he even go about explaining the ancients to someone? Someone who recognized him as from Earth on sight? “Ancient.”

“Yes, well. It is. By all definitions, so... are you.”

“No, no, no... The Ancient’s built it to seed planets with gates. I’m, I’m not... I’m just human.” Eli stuttered over the last part as his brain caught up with his mouth. “How am I ancient?”

Jack seem to appraise him then. He sighed and motioned Eli towards what could only be described as some kind of sand rover thing. When they got to the vehicle, Jack reached inside and pulled out a drink container. “It’s water.” He leaned against the rover and watched quietly as Eli gulped down a few drinks then started sipping at the liquid. “What year is it?”

“... that’s really a not good question. Cuz, I have no idea. How long was I in cryo?”

Eli noticed that this response seemed to visibly relax Jack. And continued. “We were coming upon a vast void in space. We were going to have to drift through a lot of it... we’d have died if we hadn’t gone into cryosleep.”

Nodding, Jack kept quiet as he took the container back when Eli handed it to him. “In Earth time... it’s probably around the 37th century.” He glanced around the beach. “My ancestors haven’t even colonized this place yet. I’d always wondered what drew them here.” Jack’s attention drifted back towards the burning ship behind them. “Now, I know.”

“Wait... what?”

“I grew up here... in the 51st century.”

As plain as that? Just casually mention time travel and that’s it. Eli’s brain jumpstarted on a set of equations Rush had had him working on before... well, before things had went to hell worse than they had been. Was time travel not connected to solar flares even possible? Was he seriously asking himself that standing across from a guy who’d just said he was from the 51st century while supposedly being in the 37th talking to him... from the 21st. Eli’s head hurt. “Okay.” He responded slowly. “I’m sure there’s a story behind that... but... I’m not really sure my brain can handle it right now.”

Jack flashed a smile at him and threw an arm over his shoulder. “We should probably get back to my place anyway... sand storms coming in.”

Eli gave Jack a skeptical look. Why had everything else out of the guy’s mouth sounded so normal yet suggesting they go back to his place have such a leer to it. He raised an eyebrow out of curiosity.

Sighing, Jack waved him into the rover. “...no, I’m not flirting with you. It just sounds that way. And you’re not very observant, Eli, people usually get that feeling when I introduce myself.” His tone was self-mocking but good natured, so Eli didn’t protest it. “... did they have geeks in the 51st century? Because we are notoriously bad at picking up on things like flirting.”

A deep laugh erupted from Jack’s lips. “I know the kind... and it’s a long story.” He settled in beside Eli. “Speaking of long stories, were there escape pods on your ship?”


End file.
